After the rapper's label told Billboard it planned to release his new song on the night of the Grammy Awards, Drake jumped the gun late Friday by posting "Started from the Bottom" on his website. The track is the first single from Drake's upcoming third album, the follow-up to 2011's "Take Care," which debuted at No. 1 and has sold nearly 2 million copies.

"Today is the day to begin sharing my newest work with you," Drake wrote in a note accompanying the song. "I didn't feel I needed any interviews or radio or press to launch this song. It felt right to come back to the site that I started on and release it to the people that started here with me."

Produced with gloomy goth-rap precision by Mike Zombie, "Started from the Bottom" recounts Drake's unlikely journey from teen-TV star to hip-hop heavyweight.

"I feel sometimes that people don't have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn't consistent with actual events," Drake wrote. "My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen. I did not buy my way into this spot and it was the furthest thing from easy to achieve. I am proud of every part of my past and I'm excited for this song to find a place in your life as well."